DVD Review: Nancy Drew

Writer: Andrew Fleming, Tiffany Paulsen
Director: Andrew Fleming
Cast: Emma Roberts, Josh Flitter, Max Thieriot, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tate Donovan, Caroline Aaron, Barry Bostwick, Marshall Bell
Rating: PG
Studio: Warner Home Video
Release Date: March 11, 2008

I never really got into the Nancy Drew book series when I was a girl, growing up in Florida. I was a little too young to be involved in the Nancy Drew craze, but I know my aunts and my mom were big fans of Nancy when they were teens. Sure, I knew who Nancy Drew was, but I was more into romance novels than mystery. Still, having three kids, I was interested in seeing Nancy Drew along with my nine year old son, Jaden.

I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable the movie for Nancy Drew actually was. I wasn’t sure how into it Jaden would be, but he really enjoyed it as well. Maybe we enjoyed it because neither of us read the books. It seems that the people and critics who have complained the most about the Nancy Drew movie were book purists who didn’t like the interpretation by Andrew Fleming and Tiffany Paulsen. Since I’m not a fan of the books I don’t have any of those preconceived biases.

Release Information:
Nancy Drew was released in theaters in the United States and Canada on June 15, 2007. It made a $6 million profit in its opening weekend. The movie has since grossed over $30 million worldwide. Nancy Drew was just released on DVD, March 11, 2008, by Warner Bros. A DVD game, “Nancy Drew: Drew’s Clues” was also being distributed on the same day. The standard DVD for the Nancy Drew movie is available on Amazon for $19.99.

The Nancy Drew Plot
Nancy Drew has a retro feel that I felt was very respectful of the original creation by Carolyn Keene (the ghost name under which the creators of the Nancy Drew mysteries wrote). Fleming found ways to keep Nancy as old fashioned and wholesome as the books portrayed and yet update the story into a modern day setting without making the character of Nancy suffer. Portrayed by Emma Roberts, Nancy Drew is a savvy, young detective in the small town of River Heights. Presumed to be a small town in the Midwest (or other similar area), everyone seems to like Nancy. She has two close friends, the handsome “boy next door”, Ned Nickerson (Max Thieriot) has a crush on her, and the police love how helpful she is when it comes to solving mysteries and crimes in town.

One person who doesn’t love the danger Nancy puts herself into is her dad, Carson Drew (Tate Donovan). Carson is a lawyer who enjoys helping others and he is about to take a case in California, which is going to pay him more money. He hopes the few months in Los Angeles will get sleuthing out of Nancy’s system, but what he doesn’t know is that Nancy has chosen a home that has a mystery attached to it.

After promising not to sleuth, Nancy can’t help herself as the mystery of the retro-mansion they are renting basically falls into her lap. The mystery revolves around the death of a famous Hollywood actress named Dehlia Draycott (Laura Harring), who lived in the house where Nancy lives. According to Nancy, Dehlia was found in the pool, face down, having been murdered after returning from a six week disappearance where no one knew where she went. To add to the mystery, Nancy finds out that Dehlia’s death may be connected to the life of a poor, single mother named Jane Brighton (Rachael Leigh Cook).

There are others involved in the mystery including the creepy, caregiver of the house, Leshing (Marshall Bell), who has been caring for the home since long before Dehlia’s death, Dehlia’s former manager, Dashiel Biedermeyer (Barry Bostwick), and a mysterious man named Z, who Dehlia addresses in at least one letter Nancy finds while researching the mystery. A Nancy Drew mystery wouldn’t be complete without other young people in the story, though, and that comes in the form of Nancy’s new schoolmates.

Carson wants Nancy to do things the “average” teenager does, so Nancy heads to her new school ready to make a bunch of new friends. Nancy doesn’t exactly fit in because as she says, she enjoys “old things” and she has this retro look about her that makes the other girls at her school make fun of her. The two worst girls are Inga (Daniella Monet) and Trish (Kelly Vitz).

Inga’s little brother, Corky (Josh Flitter) just happens to be in high school, despite only being 12 and he falls head over heels for Nancy. He tries to help her with solving the mystery, which leads to someone trying to kill them. When Ned shows up to surprise Nancy, the two fight over her, while Inga tries to get Ned for herself.

All in all, this is a great, family friendly movie that the whole family can enjoy together. The acting isn’t Academy Award worthy, but it is enjoyable and the actors all do a great job. The characters have great chemistry and the story flows smoothly. There are also plenty of comedic moments as the humor flows freely, especially when Nancy makes one of her snappy comebacks, which ensures that she keeps that “cool” Nancy Drew image.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
Nancy Drew has two visual options on the disc. There is a full frame transfer at a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. There is also an anamorphic widescreen option that is a 16:9 transfer. I watched the anamorphic widescreen version and it was clear, had very few if any visual errors and it was easy to watch. I checked out the full frame version just long enough to see how the quality was, and while I prefer widescreen, the full frame version was just as watchable.

The audio for Nancy Drew is available in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. This quality is available in three different languages, English, Spanish, and French. The soundtrack of both the dialogue and music is easy to hear. There isn’t any need to volume toggle because everything is really clear. With subtitltes available in all three languages, it’s easy to see that Warner Bros. did a nice job with the audio features for Nancy Drew.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There are some extras including on the Nancy Drew DVD. There is a behind the scenes feature called “Nancy Drew: Kids at Work”. There is a pretty funny gag reel. There is a music video with one of the songs that was performed in the movie, “Pretty Much Amazing”. There is also a featurette gallery with something called Cool Scenes with the Cast and Crew. Overall, the extras show a pretty interesting look at the making of and behind the scenes elements of the Nancy Drew movie.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
Nancy Drew is a great movie that parents can enjoy with their children. Nancy is a great role model for both boys and girls. The story isn’t so juvenile that teens and adults will be overly bored and isn’t too advanced that kids won’t enjoy it. I really liked spending the time watching this with my son and would watch it again. I recommend the film for ages 7 and up though the preteen crowd will probably like it the most.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: Nancy Drew, Movie Review, Warner Bros, DVD, Kids Movie, Emma Roberts, Barry Bostwick

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Being a stay at home mom to three kids and a freelance writer keeps Lisa quite busy. Lisa is the wife of Patrick and the mother of Tim (17), Jaden (9), and Kayla (3). Having a toddler in the house makes things quite interesting. Lisa is an aspiring writer. She loves working for LI Kids because she can get the whole family involved in the reviewing process and write, which is her passion. In her free time she loves sewing and scrapbooking.